I have a early mackbook, I think one of the first versions! In about this mac it says: MacBook1,1

It has a 1.83 GHz Core Duo (remember those? the 32 bit version!) with 2 GB of RAM (DDR2 667, this is the max possible)

It has a 60 GB mechanical drive that I'd like to be done with. Since the HD is user replaceable on this model, i'd like to get an SSD. What kind would you guys recommend?

The rest of the story is I got this machine for $400 four years ago. It is still a reasonably fast and portable machine at a good price. I'm moving to Kenya for a year and am planning to take this as it is semi disposable, and I must leave my desktop behind. I do not need much storage in the machine at all, so sticking in the 60 GB range for the new drive is fine.

I'll have an external along for my photographs. I'm not looking forward to running Photoshop on this machine very much though!

I don't think the OS version on that model had support for TRIM command or any other SSD-specific optimizations... Just get a newer HDD with more cache and faster RPM's, especially if this laptop is "semi-disposable".

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I have upgraded to OS 10.6.8 which is the last version to support 32 bit processors.

A quick search suggests TRIM is part of the OS. Is there something in particular I can check?

I'm not primarily looking for increased performance. My interest in the SSD is the ability to survive the rough conditions and reduce heat output. I will be traveling with a large hiking backpack and a normal backpack as luggage on rough roads!

By semi-disposable I mean something that I wouldn't have to baby (and defend) like a new laptop.

Yea, you can manually enable TRIM in that OS version... If the storage space is not an issue - there are plenty of 60GB SSD's available for about $88, like Intel's 520 series or Crucial's m4 series (which would be my 2 personal choices). Shop around, compare the prices with Amazon's current prices, etc.

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kumori wrote:You will not be able to appreciate the small differences in speed between different SSDs on such an old machine.

I beg to differ. You will probably notice it more. I put a SSD in an old 2006 mac mini and the difference is like night and day.

Yeah, I don't understand how an SSD would NOT make a difference. You'd see that on pretty much any system until you get to CPU-constrained stuff or RAM-limited stuff or video-limited stuff. For 90% of what you do, it'd be fantastic! If I had the money, I'd SSD everything I could.

Especially if I could easily and cheaply replace the 8 GB SSD in my Dell Mini9, I would. Even though it's got an Atom, the disk is HORRIBLE SLOW. HORRIBLE.

BTW, you probably already know, but make sure you NEVER check your laptop when flying international. And especially Africa--you keep that with you. Lost a Dell laptop in, oddly enough, Kenya by doing that. I knew that but was tired and had a brain fart. Pics from the trip and personal data gone in an instant. Bummer.

If it's a straight capacity swap of your existing hard disk, and if you can still find them, try an Intel X-25M. Yes, yes, it's not the latest and greatest, but in my experience just about any SSD, even older 34nm NAND-packing stuff like the X-25M, will give you a boost in performance and reliability.

If you're allergic to SandForce-related issues, the X-25M was one of the last SSD lines that used Intel's in-house-developed controller, too (I think the SSD 320 was the last?).

For what it's worth, I've run a 40GB X-25V (basically the X-25M's kid brother) as boot drive on the family's Windows XP rig since 2010...and zero problems to report, even while it still lived inside a case that was ridiculously starved for airflow.

Otherwise if you're looking for something much newer and made under a smaller lithography process, I've heard good stuff about Corsair's Neutron/Neutron GTX lineup too. It's very much the underrated dark horse in modern-day SSDs; cheaper than Intel's or Samsung's stuff but performs just as well for the benchmark-obsessed.